Righteousness, Justice of a People and Their Land

A lot of map points are referenced below. Several maps are presented at the end, to ease certain reference points.

Parshat Vayera 

 by Rabbi Billet 

 Countless times in the chapters of Avraham, God tells him and promises him that his children are to become a great nation. This nation will be clearly identifiable, to bring one example, by their innate need to practice righteousness and justice. God even declares that He knows Avraham will teach his children to conduct themselves in this manner (18:19), which is why He reveals to Avraham His intent to destroy the cities of Sodom, so Avraham can try to defend the wicked inhabitants of those cities. 

 Over the course of the parshas Noach, Lekh Lekha, Vayera and Chayei Sarah we learn about families, clans, and nations. We learn of where they settle. We learn of certain aspects of their identities. We also see populations move, looking for greener pastures, or better opportunities. In chapter 10, we learned that Yefet’s children settled in areas that look like Europe, including islands, presumably on the Mediterranean. Cham’s children settled mostly in Northern Africa and along the Eastern Mediterranean coast (Canaan – which is defined, east to west, as Sodom to Gaza), while Shem’s children settled around, though primarily east of, the Euphrates. 

 One of Cham’s descendants, Nimrod, seems to have initiated a move westward in the efforts to create the tower of Bavel. The failure of that enterprise contributed to further expansion westward from the earlier civilization essentially spawning out of Mesopotamia. Terach (a descendant of Shem) started a move westward as well, he settled in Charan, which is eastern Syria. His son, Avraham, continued the journey to Canaan, now at God's direction, where he eventually settled, and was ultimately promised the land by God – an inheritance that would take possession 400 years after his child Yitzchak would be born.

 What happens to Avraham’s other children? Yishmael is expelled from the house at Sarah’s behest and his mother turns to her roots, finding a wife for her son from Egypt. (21:21) He settles in the wilderness (how does one “settle” in the wilderness? Presumably he is a nomad) and he is described as being a bow-slinger. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and assume this means he hunts animals. His district is Midbar Paran. The most common identification of Midbar Paran is in the Eastern Sinai, just west of the western border of modern day Israel’s Negev Desert. 

 At the end of Chayei Sarah, we are told that Avraham married Keturah (who some identify as Hagar, though this is debated), and that she had 6 sons. Whether Avraham was their father or raised her children is a debate. Seforno argues that he raised them, based on the evidence in Divrei HaYamim I 1:28 (Keturah’s children are mentioned there too in 1:32, and the verse doubles down that these are her children in 1:33, seeming to support Seforno’s view). He explains that the verse in Bereshit 25:2 which says “she birthed for him” doesn’t have to mean that he was the father, because the verse in Shmuel II 21:8 references the children that Michal gave birth to for Adriel, when Michal never had any children (see Shmuel II 6:23) but she raised her sister Merav’s children. 

 The ”Bnei Keturah” (as they are called in 25:4) are given gifts and sent off to live in the east – the most famous is Midian, and the land that is eventually known as Midian is western Saudi Arabia, south of Jordan. 

 Finally, the very end of Chayei Sarah tells us where the Bnei Yishmael lived – from Chavila until Shur, which is near Egypt (25:18). Midbar Shur is typically identified as being north of Midbar Paran, in the Eastern Sinai desert, northwards. Anyone who claims to be a descendant of Yishmael has a decent historical claim on the Eastern Sinai. Arabs who claim to be descendants of Avraham from Keturah have a decent claim on the lands of Arabia. 

 Unrelated to these groups of Avraham’s descendants, there is another clan known as the Phillistines (Pelishtim) who play a much more significant role in the books of the prophets. Philistia is along the Mediterranean coast, in the area primarily identified today as the Gaza Strip. Avraham encounters them twice in his experience – in chapters 20 and 21. First he lives in Gerar, which is identified as being between Kadesh and Shur (20:1). Kadesh is likely east of Paran, while Shur is slightly north of Paran, which means that Gerar has to be to the northeast of Shur – aka close to the Gaza Strip. Later on he is in a place called Beer ShAva (which may or not be the same place as Beer ShEva – that is a debated point). This would follow a natural departure of ways, with Avraham returning to the southern most part of the land promised to him, just shy of living in a wilderness. (Beer ShAva is just north of the Negev Desert.) There is no one today who claims ancestry from ancient Philistia. [For a related discussion as to the location and identification of Kadesh, see here]

 Going ahead a generation, we will meet Eisav, who will settle in Mt Seir and in the land eventually to be known as Edom. Those areas are north of Midian, to the south and east of the Dead Sea. There are some claims that descendants of Eisav crossed the Mediterranean and ended up in Rome. In either case, no one today identifies as being a descendant of Eisav. 

 In the history of the world there were People identified by nationhood, and there were lands that were occupied by those Peoples. We can identify where Babylonia was, but the people of Babylonia are gone. We can identify where Persia was, but the people of that empire are gone. We can identify areas controlled by Mamelukes and Byzantines, but no one identifies directly as being from that culture. Similarly, the great empires of Rome and Greece can be pointed to on a map, but there is no remnant of those cultures in identifiable people today. There are likely descendants of Ottomans today, as that empire fell apart a little over 100 years ago. And while there are surely descendants of Nazis today, only the most unabashed are proud of their family history, as most decent people would like that horrible stain to disappear from their heritage. 

 The people of Israel entered the land of Canaan at God’s instruction, in fulfillment of the promise to Avraham. All the nations who were there at the time are gone. No one in the world can claim Canaanite ancestry. While Israel became two kingdoms – Yisrael and Yehuda – they were still one nation of Bnei Yisrael. Much of the Kingdom of Yisrael was sent into exile and lost, which has led to fascinating theories and research in identifying peoples who seem to have certain Jewish practices, wondering if they are from the lost tribes [the Falasha and the Bene Menasseh, for example]. The Judean section of Israel was partly exiled, and these Israelites became known as Judeans (or Jews), or Yehudim (Yehud or Yehudi). Since the time of the Roman exile, there were always Jews in Israel. Almost seventy years after the destruction of the Temple (in the 130s), the Bar Kokhba rebellion took place. While a center of Jewish life produced the Babylonian Talmud in Babylonia, there were rabbis in Israel producing the Palestinian Talmud (in Hebrew, Talmud Yerushalmi), using the name the Romans had given to the land. Throughout the Talmudic period there were Jews in Israel. Continuing through the Middle Ages, there were as well: Yehuda HaLevi came to Israel around 1140 and found Jews there; Maimonides came to Israel and met Jews in the 1160s; Nachmanides came to Israel and met Jews in the 1260s; there was a significant settlement of Kabbalists in Tzfat in the 1400s-1600s (and beyond). And of course, the ancient dream of “Next Year in Yerushalayim” started to become a significant reality with the return of many Jews starting in the 1880s. From thousands of years of exile somehow there is still a People who claim Avraham as our ancestor. 

An authoritative book, written in the 1700s by Hadriani Relandi, "Palaestina ex Monumentis Veteribus Illustrata" claims that there were far more Jews than Arabs in the land when he traveled the land identifying 2500 locations and kept records of how many Jews (always the majority), Christians (a more significant minority), and Arabs (smallest population) were around. Gaza was 1/2 Jewish, 1/2 Christian. Nazareth was completely Christian. Tiberias and Tzfat had only Jews. Jerusalem was 2/3 Jewish, 1/3 Christian, and almost no Muslims. Only Shechem (Nablus) was a Muslim city. It is clear that the larger Arab population that eventually was to be found in the Holy Land emigrated to the land after the 1880s, when the Jews began to rebuild the land and economic opportunities began to present themselves. The book contained 1200 pages and was published in two volumes. 

 Mark Twain came to the Holy Land in the 1860s and reported that there were not a lot of people in the Holy Land. Surely there were inhabitants, but how long had they been there? What had they built? Why were they there? Where had they come from? Were these nomads who tried settling? Were these people who had come from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon looking for a different life?

 Until 1948, Palestine referred to a land, never to a people. In fact, Palestine never referred to a people (who were simply displaced Arabs) until the founding of the PLO in the 1960s. It is a modern miracle that the wasteland that Twain saw is a country that blooms. It started to turn with the arrival of Jews , a couple of decades after Twain's visit, intent on reviving the land, an effort eventually enhanced by modernity. 

 As Avraham made peace with his neighbors in chapter 21, there could be peace in the land today. But peace can only work when there is a basic premise of accepting the other’s right to exist. Historically, this has always been difficult for one side.

 Tzfat (Safed) was attacked in 1517, 1660, 1838, 1929. There were riots in Hebron in 1929 and throughout the land in 1936-39. All of this pre-dates the modern State of Israel. Many have noted the offers of Statehood that have always been rejected by Arab leaders. 

 Everyone loves and sympathizes with dead Jews. What they don’t like is a Jew who doesn’t lie down and take it, who will no longer walk like sheep to slaughter. The Jew who fights back is a tough pill for some people in the world to swallow.

 Avraham’s mission was to model a life of Tzedakah and Mishpat. Righteousness includes allowing everyone to live in peace. Mishpat means that when people break laws and don’t allow for life to be lived in safety that such crimes need to be addressed, and the perpetrators need to be eradicated. That is what happened to the people of Sodom. 

 Calling the just court that carries out the law “murderers” is a diversionary tactic to not see crimes for what they are. To state the obvious, those who don’t commit crimes don’t need to answer for them. They are never at the mercy of a court which is carrying out the law, ridding the world of actual murderers.

 Moral people are sickened by crimes against humanity, and no decent person wants war. War is sometimes a necessary evil, but the goal of war (when a nation is attacked by an evil enemy) is to end hostilities forever, so there will be no more war. That is justice, the kind that opens the door for a world of righteousness to emerge.

Those who call for ceasefire, using humanitarian claims before the war is won, don't realize that war, by definition, is not humanitarian. Those who start a war are the ones responsible for its outcomes, and the only real way for a war to end is for the bad guys to surrender and to never start up again.

May God help that reality come about so those who truly want to live in peace can do so. The first step (which unbelievably needs to be stated after 75 years) is to accept Israel's existence, and its place as a Jewish State, as a reality. Accept its right be so. Give up hopes of taking it over (to recreate whatever theocracy or terrorist state that no one really wants), and make a commitment to make the best possible life for those who truly suffer - without wanting Jews to suffer.

THEN THERE WILL BE PEACE!

Lekh Lekha: Getting the Hint to Grow Our Nation Properly – With Tefillah!

 Lekh Lekha

This year, I referenced this article

https://arabbiwithoutacause.blogspot.com/2019/11/avrahams-relationships-and-sarais-chamas.html

and just added the following to the end (here is the last paragraph from there, with an additional sentence in bold).

Of course some of this is conjecture, but it is clear to me that people grow in time, and relationships change, and hopefully evolve for the better. The first of our forefathers and foremothers are a great example of how at all stages, people ought to be in tune to each other, and whenever and as much as possible, ought to pray that their relationship should only be growing and improving, through their own efforts and through the help of God. Whichever relationship is better – אתו or עמו, that should be achieved as well.

Certainly getting angry at someone for doing your bidding is an inappropriate response. Believing very much in the power of prayer is a tremendous maylah – a great credit to Sarai for sensing what was truly needed. Who knows? Perhaps she offered Hagar to Avraham to get him to pray for Sarai. Maybe she was hoping he’d catch a hint. If that was the case, the hint was lost on Avraham, and the rest is history.

Things played out as they did, Hagar had a son named Yishmael, and Yishmael’s descendants are viewed today as being the Arab world. Not all Arabs hate Israel, though obviously those who do, hate ALL JEWS and have gone far beyond the pale in their hatred.

May we learn from Sarah that if there is disgrace upon anyone, it may be because we haven’t prayed hard enough to have the resolution we need and hope for. May God hear our prayers and may He bless us all with peace, in our homes, in our families, among our People, and in our Holy Land.  

Light Comes From Different Sources

Parshat Noach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 One of the instructions given to Noach is to make a "Tzohar" for the Teivah (Ark). Rashi's explanation is based in the Midrash – that the Tzohar was either a shiny precious stone that gave light, or that it was, perhaps most obviously, a window.

Ibn Ezra strongly objects to the idea that some suggest that the Tzohar is another name for the opening of the Ark. He prefers the “window” approach (plus another which we’ll see shortly) 

 The argument supporting the two opinions recorded by Rashi are supported numerically by the Rosh and Baal Haturim who use either Talmudic numbers or their own ingenuity to suggest that depending how you write Tzohar – without or with a Vov – would numerically equal לאור האבן (to the light of a stone) or אור חלון (to the light of a window) respectively. 

 [[ROSH -- Tzohar (Without a Vov) = L'Or HaEven (295) (Sanhedrin 108b) 

BAAL HATURIM -- Or Chalon = Tzohar (with Vov) (301/302)]]

When the Midrash Aggadah describes in greater detail what Rashi summarized, it explains that God commanded him to bring precious/shiny stones that would light the Ark as if it is their (based on how צהר is related to צהרים/afternoon), because the Ark was otherwise dark.

 מדרש אגדה (בובר) בראשית פרשת נח פרק ו סימן טז 

 [טז] צהר תעשה לתיבה. צוהו הקדוש ברוך הוא שיכניס עמו מרגליות שתהא מאירה להם כצהרים, מפני שהיתה התיבה חשיכה: ד"א צהר תעשה. זה חלון שהיה פתוחה, ונח מביט ממנה מה שיעשה, ובימי גשמים שהם מ' יום היה צריך למרגלית, והחלון צריך לפתוח אחר מ' יום של גשמים:

Utilizing both interpretations the Midrash concludes about how the respective Tzohars were used. During the 40 days of rain, they used the stones for light, and after the rain stopped, they could open the window.

 The Pesikta further adds that the shining luster of the stones was more prominent in the nighttime – Rabbi Levi explains that when the stones were weaker (in their light giving capacity), Noach knew it was daytime. And when they were stronger, he knew it was night. 

 Where does one even find such a special stone? According to Targum Yonatan, Noach went to the Pishon River to find the right stone for his purposes. In other words, he followed a river that flows directly from Gan Eden. Not surprising that he should want such a connection, considering that his journey's goal was to revert back there somewhat, as he and his family were going to be starting the world anew post the flood. 

 A number of commentaries, including Ibn Ezra, Radak and Chizkuni, go in a different direction when it comes to defining the Tzohar. While everyone understands it to mean a "light" these three commentaries note the similarity between Tzohar (which comes from the term Tzoharayim meaning daylight) and Yitzhar – oil, used for providing light. 

 Radak puts it plainly and bluntly when he says, ובאמת הכין נח שמן לנר בהכינו כל צרכיו: "The truth is that Noach prepared oil for all his lighting needs" (the weather was not going to be light giving for a long time). 

Perhaps a message to be taken from these discussion surrounding the Tzohar is that there are different ways that illumination can come about.

A recent discussion in our synagogue addressed the rules surrounding candles on Yom Tov (holidays), and the reality that we simply don’t use candles for light anymore, due to our reliance on electricity, wasn’t lost on us. When we talk about light, we may be talking about natural light, such as from the sun, or physical light, such as whatever light we experience, whether in daylight or a lit up space, or artificial light, which could also be from bulbs – depending how dark a space is. 

 And we could be referring to an intangible kind of light, a symbolic kind of light, which counters the bad we sometimes refer to as “darkness.” Darkness can refer to the absence of light, or it can refer to a “headspace” a person is in whether depression, despair, or when simply confronting evil. Those that peddle in destruction are often referred to as those who peddle in darkness. 

Noach was facing a darkness. The world he knew was going to be destroyed, because people in his time peddled in darkness. They were uncaring, they were self-centered, they did not bring light to the world. Aside from the word used to describe their crimes – חמס – which is often translated as robbery, one need look no farther than the instruction given to them when they left the Ark, as recorded at the beginning of chapter 9. 

"You may eat of the animals and birds and fish of the world. However, the animal must be dead when you eat it. And you are not allowed to murder humans. Those who murder humans will be put to death by other humans (under the order of a court of law)." 

 To me, this implies that part of what defined the crime of חמס included those who were eating animals that were forbidden to humans to eat, and that for whatever reason murder was taking place with regularity, with no repercussion to murderers. 

 And so, as we once again contemplate Parshat Noach, we can challenge and ask ourselves what vision of humanity we champion? 

Do we champion the vision of Eden, of veganism, of idealism? Do we champion the vision of exile from Eden, in which man falls again and again, committing robbery, murder and eating forbidden foods, to the point that the world needs to be destroyed? Do we champion a world not focused on surviving, but focused on thriving through channeling the human-instinct-to-take-life in the direction of animals for the purposes of offerings and food? And of course through humanity having a certain code of ethics that punishes the murderers for taking away from others’ pursuit of happiness and ability to live a full life on this earth, a life guided by a simple societal handbook that puts in order a basic respect for humans to be able to live and serve God in His world that He gifted to us. (An ordered society taking the lives of actual murderers, people with blood on their hands, by consensus is not "murder" or "unlawful killing")

 Not much more needs to be said. We are in the final days before very important and difficult tasks will be undertaken – not in the court of law, but in the courtroom of humanity. Many lives are likely to be lost in a war that has at its core the question of Israel’s survival. 

 War by definition is brutal – there are no winners, especially when a media is on the front, calling every move into question. But those who murder and delight in it are not to be given a second chance. And all those who die as a result are all on the hands of those who began the fight to begin with, who ignored the Torah’s final warning against murder. 

May Hashem grant a swift victory to the IDF, may we see a return of captives. And may all of humanity be granted to see the Tzohar – the light – that emerge from the darkness, as a very hostile region comes to accept that the only true path forward is one in which weapons are put down, and everyone lives and lets live, in peace. 

Halevai the light will be so clear one day!

How Humans Are Wired + Rejection of the Nachash

This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of all the precious souls lost in Israel since Shmini Atzeres. May all of our learning serve as a merit for the holy soldiers of the IDF. 

Parshat Bereshit

by Rabbi Avi Billet

There are 4 verbs used to describe the creation of human beings. 

 In Chapter 1, the Torah tells us

 (כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱ-לֹקים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ: 

 (כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱ-לֹקים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם: 

First God, who is either speaking to the royal “We” or to angels, or to the ground, says “Let us make (נעשה) Mankind.” He goes on to create (ויברא... ברא) humanity. In chapter 2, we find a different format used for the making of Man. 

 (ז) וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה: 

 (ח) וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱ-לֹקים גַּן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר: 

God forms (יצר) the human (האדם) and then places this human in the Garden of Eden. 

 A few verses later we are told that since this man could not find a partner for himself, God put him to sleep, took a part of him (there is a debate as to what אחת מצלעתיו means) and built (ויבן) a woman. 

 (כב) וַיִּבֶן֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶֽת־הַצֵּלָ֛ע אֲשֶׁר־לָקַ֥ח מִן־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיְבִאֶ֖הָ אֶל־הָֽאָדָֽם: 

While the English translations likely don’t do justice to what these words truly mean, let us nevertheless summarize. 

God intended to MAKE (נעשה) man. He then CREATED (ויברא) man outside of the Garden, in the first account of creation. Then he FORMED (וייצר) man through gathering dust from the earth (note that this process is not described at all in chapter 1). This FORMED man was then placed in the Garden of Eden. When it came time to create woman, He BUILT (ויבן) her from whatever part of man is referenced by the word צלע. 

 Rabbi Soloveitchik famously distinguished between Adam of Chapter I and Adam of Chapter II in his “Lonely Man of Faith” focusing on the instruction given to Adam I (“Fill the world and dominate it”) and Adam II (“Work and Guard the garden”). 

Netziv describes how Adam II was made up of portions of earth from all over the world so that humans would be able to live in all places and climates on Earth. 

 If Adam I and Adam II are the same person, however, that would seem superfluous. Adam of Chapter I was told to fill the world and dominate it. It seems, from the way the Torah describes Adam of Chapter II, he may have been a different human, whose job was to work and guard the garden. And since, unlike Adam I, who was created with a female, Adam II was created alone, it may also seem that Adam II was initially supposed to simply be the watchman for the Garden, living alone in that particular idyllic setting, perhaps even forever. 

 In fact, Netziv explains his task of עבודה and שמירה as referring to Serving God and observing Mitzvos, arguing that the purpose of the garden was to create a bastion for spiritual pursuit. The human in the garden was to be an earthly equivalent of an angel, doing God’s will in a non-heavenly setting. Mankinhd didn’t even have a need to eat or engage in any worldy activities – similar to the existence Moshe Rabbenu had when he was on the top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days. 

 We don’t need to rehash how man was taken out of that idyllic scene. But a couple of bullet points are noteworthy: 

1. Man was alone in the garden, which may have been God’s plan. But since this Man was the same prototype as Adam I, he did not want to be alone 

2. God agreed that it was לא טוב – not good – for him to be alone and that this Man needed a companion 

3. The man who was formed (יצר) was paired with a woman who was built (ויבן) 

4. Their different understandings of God’s command led them to violate the 1 rule God gave them 

5. The breaking of the rule caused their expulsion from the Garden, after which they had to live a more difficult and challenging life of harder work and more difficult labor (pun intended), and eventually seasons.

This new reality may have put them into contact with Adam I (and Woman I?) who were living outside of the Garden. And when Kayin married, he may have created the first intermarriage with a different type of human, who was wired slightly differently, who had a different kind of creation, and who was just not made of the same “Garden of Eden origin” stuff. 

And thus humanity became more complicated. 

In this last week since Shmini Atzeres, we have come to see what we (our Jewish community) has known for a long time to be true. People are not all wired the same. 

We are wired to be the live and let live type. Let us do our thing, let us live according to the Torah, according the Jewish culture we have. Don’t bother us. And you will find that we are very happy to not bother you. 

 For close to two millenia, Christianity had a difficult time accepting that. Thankfully in the last 30 years in particular there has been a significant turnaround (much of which is informed by the aftermath of the Holocaust, though it took a generation for it to become more widespread) that has turned many Christians from being our worst enemies to being the best friends of Israel. 

 Ironically, Jews thrived in Arab lands for over 1,000 years. But when the shoe changed, it is Arabs, and in particular some Muslim Arabs, that have gone in the complete opposite direction, mostly since the establishment of the State of Israel, though we know that in the pre-State period there were riots and unrest, hatred and murder of Jews as well. 

 How could this be? Aren’t we all human? Don’t we all share the notion of “live and let live?” 

Clearly the answer is No. This is wired into the human condition. Some have בריאה and the desire to dominate as guiding their approach to life. Some have יצירה and the desire to serve God (in a healthy and Godly way that makes room for other people to live and thrive) driving their humanity. Some are builders because they were built. And some humans simply can’t help themselves and fall to the advice of the Nachash/serpent, who looks at the Word of God and simply says, “Just because God said to behave that way… so what?... enjoy the Forbidden Fruit!” 

As the Serpent was cut down to size then, and told that he will bite the human, but the human will step on his head to kill him, may God help our People live up to the humanity we stand for, which is destroying the Nachash who looks to destroy humans who build and create and do for the betterment of humanity and God’s world. 

May God see to it that the humans who value life overcome and fulfill our job of isolating the Nachash to his life mission of being cursed of all creatures, of eating the dust of the earth, and of being relegated to living out its days as rejected from every space where humans are welcome. 

The Nachash wanted what the human had, but was unworthy because he defied God to try to get it. Those who defy what it means to be human are undeserving of a seat at the table of humanity.

Mneumonic of Haazinu’s Aliyahs – Seeing God in the Teshuva Process

Parshat Haazinu

Our rabbis taught in the Sifrei of the greatness of a song that has reference to the past, future, and the World to Come. It is divided into six portions, which are identified by the mneumonic “הזי"ו ל"ך” (“the splendor is for you” ie to shine on you). Each of the first six aliyahs begins with those letters (in that order), and it is divided this way specifically in Haazinu because the overall message is one of rebuke that the people of the nation should be returning to God through Teshuvah.

One of the reasons for the mneumonic is so that everyone knows this is the breakdown, no matter what, and people should not argue with the reader, even if he ends the Aliyah on a less-than-positive note, for such is the breakdown of this Torah portion.

Another reason for this categorization is because we find ourselves in the midst of days of judgment. Just as a woman who is labor is told “God should shine on you” and a person who is going through a difficulty is told “God should bring you out of the darkness and back into the light. This is why the mneumonic itself has significance because it is essentially saying that God’s Ziv (זיו) and his Hod (הוד) and His light will come to you, illuminate and give you light.

Each of the six portions touches upon a different subject.

Verses 1-6 (which begin with האזינו): Speak of the goodness God performed for the people simply for being human, not specifically for being Yisrael. “He is your Father who has acquired you, Who made you…” references the human condition, not specifically that of Israel

Verses 7-12 (which begin with זכר): He tells of the goodness done for Israel in the wilderness and before being in the wilderness, simply because they are Israel. Nations were given their places, in accordance with taking Israel into account.

Veres 13-18 (which begin with ירכיבהו): He set them on the highlands to taste of the yield of the earth. This references the good done for Yisrael in the Land, which hasn’t even happened yet. The abundance of the land, in terms of what it could produce, is referenced in this section.

Verses 19-29 (which begin with וירא): This speaks of the punishment given to those who reject the goodness bequeathed to them

Verses 29-39 (which begin with לו): Even though God was to punish, there were individuals who still behaved wickedly who did not think that what was happening was a direct result of their actions

Verses 40-43 (which begin with כי אשא): Speaks of the punishment that will come to the nations over how they’ve treated (or will have treated) Israel, and this refers to in the time of redemption. God references taking His weaponry.

All of these sections, except the last which is meant to be comforting to Israel and punishing to the nations, have rebuke in them.

All of what has been presented until now is from the Toldot Yitzchak – the great work of Rabbi Yitzchak Caro, who goes on to specifics about the elements of the rebuke, as well as a further analysis of just about every detail of the messages of the Parsha.

There is no denying that Haazinu is a complicated piece of poetry.  Every commentator has a different perspective on every verse, leaving the depth of the messaging up for renewed interpretation each year.

What is clear, however, is that in referencing past and future, there is what to reflect upon and what to be mindful of going forward.

At the very least, we can follow the custom of the Jewish people on Shabbos Shuva, and gather together for the Shabbos Shuva drasha. Wherever you may find yourself this weekend, hopefully you can attend a Shabbos Shuva Drasha, and with God’s help it should serve as an inspiration for the undertakings we will commit to for the coming year, to serve both as a blessing to ourselves and our families, as well as to all of Klal Yisrael. 

Reverence for A Sacred Space and the Torah

Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelekh

by Rabbi Avi Billet

We read the double parsha of Nitzavim Vayelekh. In Vayelekh, there are two mitzvos surrounding a Sefer Torah. The second of these is considered by many to be the final mitzvah in the Torah – to write a Torah. Since not everyone can write a Torah, or nowadays afford a Torah, a widely accepted opinion is that we can fulfill this through having Sefarim (Jewish books) in our homes that allow us to engage with Torah study. 

The other mitzvah related to a Sefer Torah is to have it read at the gathering called Hakhel, when the entire nation would come to Jerusalem once every seven years, on the holiday of Sukkot. Those who heard the Torah would be inspired in one form or another (perhaps from what they heard, perhaps from seeing the enormous crowd, perhaps from participating in such a spectacle). While I don’t know how the entire nation would hear, in the absence of an amplification system, I imagine that somehow it worked out.

R Samson Raphael Hirsch writes about this event: 

“In a general assembly of the nation, they hear of the Divine origin of the Torah and of the obligation to fulfill it. The nation itself vouches for this, and proclaims it ever anew through its supreme representative. This consciousness, renewed in the assembly of the whole community, shall have the effect that ילמדו (“they will learn”): constant growth in the study of the Torah will become for them an exalted aim. ויראו (“And they will fear”): Both of these – the mitzvah of Hakhel in the assembly and the mitzvah of ילמדו at home – will bring them to the feat of God, which will ultimately result in the observance of the entire Torah. For on the momentous occasion of the assembly of the whole nation, they renew their awareness that one God is the God of them all, the Director of their fate and the Guide of their actions, and this awareness will heighten their fear of God and channel it toward one goal: To keep/observe all the words of this Torah.”

Rav Hirsch makes a few additional points through his commentary on these two Sefer-Torah-focused passages. Moshe tells the people to take the Sefer Torah and put it next to the Ark (some say IN the Ark) to bear witness to the truth of all of this. 

1. That he is told to give this final version of the Torah to the people indicates that what we call the Written Torah (תורה שבכתב) was originally transmitted to the people orally – for 40 years! - without being written down. (I like to point out the impossibility of the Torah we have being in their hands – imagine if the Spies and Korach crowd read the script of their rebelliousness before it happened!) Moshe wrote it down at the end of his life – leaving the subject of the authorship of the last 8 verses of the Torah (those describing his death and afterwards) as a fascinating conversation. (31:26) 

2. There is a debate as to where this Torah was kept: In the Ark, next to the Ark, or somewhere else in relative proximity to the Ark. If it was kept in the Ark, this leads to a fascinating thought. We know that the Holy of Holies was only entered one day of the year, Yom Kippur, for specific services (Avodah) related to that day. Apparently, this was an exception – once every seven years – to get out the Torah for its reading. [This view is based on a Devarim Rabbah passage] 

Rashi does note that this Torah was read from by the king at Hakhel, and the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. This begs a similar question, because the Avodat Yom HaKippurim does not include a time when the Kohen Gadol would take the Torah out of the Holy of Holies. So was it really kept in the Ark? 

Tosafos (Baba Basra 14a) rejects the idea that the Torah was kept in the Ark, and offers that the Torah in question is the one that Moshe gave to the Tribe of Levi (he is credited with distributing 13 Torahs at the end of his life, giving one to each of the twelve tribes plus Levi), which was kept somewhere in the vicinity of the Holy of Holies, but in the main sanctuary area. 

 3. This Torah was known as the Sefer HaAzarah, and was used irregularly for reading, but more regularly as the standard text to which other Torahs were compared to determine their accuracy (this is before computer programs would check Torahs). 

[2&3 are in Hirsch’s commentary on 31:11]

The perspective that has this Torah inside the Ark is fascinating because it creates one of the more bizarre exceptions to a rule that is seemingly inviolable, going into the Holy of Holies outside of Yom Kippur. [This lends for a different discussion about the Ark, which was recorded to be taken out to war on some occasions in the Bible. Since the actual Ark was at one point captured, did they subsequently create a second Ark to be used specifically for war?] If there was only one Ark, and kings would take the occasion of war to take the Ark out, did they also go into the Holy of Holies at that time to extract it?

Obviously, the perspective that the Torah was kept in a separate space is easiest to follow and understand. It is challenged, however, by the verse (31:26) which indicates that the Torah was placed either in or right next to the Ark.

Does it matter where it was? 

For us, practically, no. Whatever was done in actuality surely had a Mesorah, and I am confident that they did what was right. But it begs us to consider how we view a sacred space, and whether exceptions can be made in terms of how we treat whatever rule defines that space as sacred.

There are people who dress one way when they go about their business in any given day, but specifically when they are going into a shul, for whatever reason, dress in a manner that is more respectful to that space. I’ve heard the same be said of people who were going to visit a great Rabbi for his blessing, who are sensitive to honor his space through dressing more modestly and respectfully than they might otherwise.

More obviously, the way we conduct ourselves during davening, which is easily our most sacred space, behooves us to consider if we are respecting the space in the best way possible. We certainly stand at all the right spots, and are respectful when the Torah is carried around the room. But are we always equally respectful when the Torah is on the table and when it is being read? And in the space for prayer, do we engage in conversations that are idle or irrelevant to our task at hand? Or perhaps, irreverent to the space designated to communicating with our Creator?

The Torah being read at Hakhel and on Yom Kippur was meant to be a great inspirational moment in time, perhaps exacerbated by its rarity in the scheme of things. [I like to compare Hakhel to the Siyum Hashas of Daf Yomi, which takes place around every 7.5 years and is inspirational to tens of thousands of people, even those who don’t study Daf Yomi.] We hear the Torah so regularly, thank God, which lends itself to too much familiarity, that we forget how amazing an experience it ought to be. 

Let us embrace the Torah reading, every time, with a newfound awe of what is taking place when the Torah is on the Shulchan in the shul – it is the time we have the blessed opportunity to hear the Word of God. What an incredible privilege that is!

Blessing Comings and Goings

Parshat Ki Tavo

by Rabbi Avi Billet 

I was very young when I first went to sleepaway camp. When the bus pulled up to camp, the first thing I noticed was a sign that said “ברוך אתה בבאך – Camp Munk.” I don’t recall if at that time there was a similar sign sending those leaving on their way with “ברוך אתה בצאתך,” but certainly in later years until today, the sign has been updated, made much nicer, and is double sided with the double sentiment of the verse that is found in our Parsha, blessing you when you come, and blessing you as you leave. (Devarim 28:6)

The fourteen verses which precede the lengthy Rebuke (Tokhacha) include a number of beautiful sentiments that are promised to us if we take care to observe the law and fulfill the Mitzvos of the Torah. Included in that group of commitments is that “the nations of the world will see that God’s Name is upon you, and they will fear (and therefore respect?) you.” (28:10)

Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein explained that the word translated in the previous sentence as “see” (in Hebrew it’s וראו) would be better translated as “understand” – that the nations will understand why God’s Name is upon you. This comes from a perspective that considers multiple meanings of the verses which surround it, while heavily focused on the verse with which we began.

 What is intended when blessing “you when you come and when you leave?” Is there anything to glean from a somewhat related verse we are familiar with from Tehillim – ה' ישמר צאתך ובאך מעתה ועד עולם? 

Let us consider a few possibilities. 

1. Combining teachings from Bava Metzia 107b and Taanis 5b, one understanding is that the blessing on coming (באך) refers to “you” (your existence in this world) while the blessing on leaving (צאתך) refers to “your children” who are צאצאיך, those who have come out of you. 

2. The blessing is on your comings and goings in business (Midrash Rabba). Rabbi Epstein notes that the order should be reversed if it were referring to the normal order of business. But because the blessing is meant to be eternal, it isn’t presented as your goings (as in, out to business) and your comings (as in returning home from work) which would represent a day in time. It references first your return home, and then your going out, because after your return home (באך) you will do it all over again in the morning, when you leave (צאתך) to engage with the world. Contrast that to David’s imagery of God watching over us day in and day out, which is presented based on one’s leavings and returnings, and seems to be looking out for safety in general, rather than specific success. 

 3. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 107b) has several interpretations, including “that your exit from this world should be like your entrance into this world – just as you entered without sin, so should you leave without sin.” This is an exhortation to be constantly improving, considering, and making choices that increasingly reflect of a more Godly existence. 

 4. The passage in Sanhedrin 7b puts the following thought into someone’s mind: “If only my comings were like my leavings” which refers to how a judge goes out to court to serve in that capacity. He is thinking, “If only I return to my home the way that I left it – just as I left not having sinned (or erred in the court), I hope to return not having sinned or not have issued an incorrect ruling.” Once we’re going this route, the verse could easily refer to one’s coming and going to and from the Bet Din as well: “I hope to come to the court with no sin, and to leave it without sin (or error)” 

5. Finally, Rabbi Epstein reminds us of the Mishnah in Avos which reminds us that this world is simply a hallway leading into the next world, which is compared to a banquet hall. Therefore, the blessing is that your exit into the banquet hall should be like the entrance into the hallway. Just as we enter this world without sin, we should merit to leave this world without sin.

This is far less a morbid reminder of our mortality and much more a reminder of how we are to aim to live our Jewish lives. 

 There are stories of enemies of the Jewish people who have observed that many Jews (tragically) live lives without God. These enemies, who very often believe in God, have stated that if the Jews abandon their God, He will not protect them, He will not preserve their rights to the Land of Israel and will not fulfill the promises to which He might otherwise be bound. 

There is likely much truth to that, and it is certainly a reminder of what our task in this life is all about. This goes back to the interpretation of 28:10, that if we don’t have respect for our own life-mission, how or why would anyone else? 

This is not to suggest that all of the Jewish people are guilty of such disregard for our relationship with the Almighty. Such a claim would be libelous!

The point is that while we can easily look at the blessing as meaning that God is blessing our comings and goings, in the manner we usually use that term, it is also possible that the verse is referring to our entrances into this world (whether us and our children) or is referring to our place in the world as ruled by the cosmos. 

 We absolutely have a task in this world, to live lives that are defined as Kiddush Hashem – a living sanctification of God’s name. Whether that refers to our behavior vis a vis neighbors, whether it refers to how we are to conduct ourselves in worldly or in spiritual affairs, or whether it means we have to simply abide by the Torah’s rules and represent God (this is not an exhaustive list of Kiddush Hashem options), we entered the world, and we expect to leave it one day. We enter life situations, and we move on from them. 

Just as the summer camp indicated, you should be blessed during your time here, the parting words affirm “You were blessed when you came, you’ve been blessed from your time spent here, and we hope and wish that you will be blessed as you turn on and move on to the next stage of life – whatever that may be and wherever you may find yourself.” 

Perhaps most importantly, we should see this as such a defining element of our life mission, that through our living it out, we should be blessed to be the example that the nations see and therefore come to understand of our special relationship with God.

Blessed you are when you come, and blessed you will be as you depart to the next stop on your physical, spiritual, and soul’s journey. Amen.